Sunday, May 4

Muffin Tops: Flat or Pointy?

What makes a muffin top pointy?

Until this year, every batch of muffins I ever made was a flat-topped failure. I consulted cookbooks, called my mom (whose muffins are always perfect) and tried every conceivable combination of baking powder, baking soda, oil, butter, and eggs. I used dark muffins tins, light muffin tins, different oven temperatures, electric mixing, hand mixing -- still flat. My final attempt wasn't pretty -- twenty-four unevenly cooked, pancake-flat muffins (from 2 different attempts) along with my muffins tins, ended up in the trash, as I declared, "That's it! I'm never making muffins again!"

All this changed when I made my honeyed orange ginger muffins this year. After about 7 minutes, I turned on the oven light and peeked inside. I was shocked. They were rising. I started jumping up and down and exclaiming, "Jeff, my muffins are rising! They're actually rising!"

"Don't jump up and down!" he said. "Don't do anything to jinx it this time." He had a point.

We actually stood at the oven watching those muffins rise as gloriously as angels. After years of abject muffin failure, it was a beautiful moment.

Each plump muffin had a small hill top. I couldn't have been more pleased. Since then I have made several batches, all successful. So what's my secret? Darned if I know. But here are a few suggestions:

Use both baking powder and baking soda which are leavening agents.

Stir with a spatula, not an electric hand mixer, for a lighter batter.

Use light colored bake ware rather than dark to keep the muffin bottoms from burning.

Fill the muffin cups 3/4's of the way to the top.

Place the muffins in the center of the oven at 350-375 degrees F. Many muffin recipes call for a hotter oven (400-425 F), but I have found they usually burn on the outside and remain undercooked on the inside.

Talk sweetly to the muffins as they're baking. Don't underestimate the power of kindness.

If all else fails, buy a GE Monogram oven. I have made muffins in 7 different ovens, and persistence pays off.

Made with creamy coconut milk, these muffins are moist and cakey with tiny pieces of fresh, juicy strawberries baked inside. Each delicious bite is laced with tangy honey and aromatic toasted coconut and almonds. In fact, your entire kitchen will be redolent with the fragrance of rich almond and sweet strawberries. That's why I'm contacting Yankee Candle to suggest it as a new fragrance-- Food Blogga: Strawberry Almond Delight Candle. Whadda ya think?

I'm sending my muffins to Michele of Greedy Gourmet who is hosting the third round of Snack Shots. This time she wants muffins, any and all muffins. But hurry! Tuesday is the deadline.

Place rack in center of oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Spray a 12 mold regular size muffin pan with cooking spray.

Wash strawberries, remove the hull, and pat dry. Dice and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together coconut milk, melted butter, and egg. Add the orange zest, honey, and almond extract, and whisk until just combined. Add to the flour mixture, and stir quickly until well combined. Fold in the strawberries and toasted coconut. Spoon the batter evenly into the 12 molds.

For the topping, mix 2 tablespoons sweetened shredded coconut and 2 tablespoons sliced almonds in a small bowl. Sprinkle on top of muffins.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack to cool for 5 minutes before removing each muffin and placing on a wire rack to cool.

**Note: Pure almond extract is deliciously, intensely flavorful. If you want a mild almond flavor, then I'd suggest 1-1 1/2 teaspoons; if, like me, you want a bold almond flavor, then I'd add 2 or even 3 teaspoons. You decide.

Strawberries are often considered "too watery" to use in baked goods such as muffins and breakfast breads. Here are some tips for baking successfully with fresh strawberries:

Use only really fresh berries that are firm, not mushy.

Don't add too many strawberries to the batter which could make it too wet.

68 comments:

Susan, I know exactly how you feel. I too have been on a muffin top quest for many years and have also tried every trick under the sun. Sometimes they rise and sometimes they don't. Only once, many many moons ago, I made Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins and they rose so high, I couldn't believe it. I still don't know why. I thought it was due to using a higher temp to start, but I have done that with other muffins with no result...Anyway, your muffins look fantastic and I just may try these because I happen to have all the ingredients needed. I love that. And by the way, Congrats on your victory!!

I've never thought of muffins being pointy until I have started to see discussions about it int eh blogosphere - maybe it is inspired by the snackshots theme! Yours look perfect and the combination of flavours sounds delicious!

Congratulations on these delicious beauties! I'm no muffin expert but I've read that if the muffin cups are overfilled the tops will be flat. But I'm sure this is not the only factor. Personally I like the idea of using flat muffins as an excuse to pitch for a new oven. :-)

"Stir with a spatula, not an electric hand mixer, for a lighter batter."

I don't consider myself a baking expert by any means, but I've never used an electric mixer on any baked goods because I've heard it will make them tough.

I use a whisk to mix up the dry ingredients, then use that wisk to mix the wet ingredients in another container. Then I gently fold the wet into the dry with a regular large spoon, mixing just enough to combine most of it together. I've even read that leaving a few small dry areas is preferable to overmixing.

One of my favorite kitchen tools is my muffin-top baking pan. Instead of full muffins, it has six wide compartments and bakes tops only! The tops come out a bit flatter (more spread out) than they do in a regular muffin pan, but for those of us who love the tops, this pan is the tops!

Baby got back! Sorry! I couldn't help it ;) I know that when it comes to my madeleines, the temperature of my oven (400F) and chilling the batter befor ehelps ne get this nice, round mound. Yours look gorgeous. I've never had muffins this beautiful.

I don't know how closely related muffins are to cupcakes, but this one time I made a batch of cupcakes and then had to jet out for some reason or another so I stashed the second half of the batter in the freezer. When I could come back to it a few days later, I didn't let the batter warm all the way up to room temp and when I baked them, the tops were absurdly tall and pointy. So along with Warda's suggestion, maybe try chilling the batter before filling the muffin cups? Who knows, it could make all the difference!

This brings up another muffin issue on my mind: ears, or no ears? (ears= the "spillover" on the top that is easy to grab). I love "ears"! And of course as much top as you can cram on there! MOUNTAIN tops! Much ado about muffin!

Nice job! That's my kind of muffin. Not too sweet and full of fruity flavours. I don't bake too much, as I don't need sugary sweets around to tempt me, but I am inclined to make muffins, biscuits and scones. I'm really liking the coconut milk idea. A must try.

annie-Jordan Marsh? That's a blast from the past! I used to go there all the time with my mom. And I'm so glad you have all of the ingredients. Let me know if you make them. :)

edamame-Thank you for visiting. I will drop by.

coco-They are tasty, just not pretty. :)

johanna-Aha! So it's Michelle and the Snack Shots theme stirring up all this chatter about pointy tops. ;)

susan-I've experienced it first-hand. That do fall flat. That's why I say to fill them 3/4's of the way to the top. Thanks!

manggy-Cute. Very cute. ;)

shreela-That's exactly what my mom says, so I know it's good advice. :) Thanks a bunch for the suggestions and for visiting!

eatmedelicious-WoW! Can you see the smile on my face? :)

pille-You think? ;)

brittany-It's true. Thank you kindly. :)

nicisme-Let's hope Yankee Candle goes for it. ;)

rosa-I love cracked tops on quick breads too.

lydia-I just learned of the muffin top only pans last week on someone's blog. I've got to look for them now.

warda-Thank you so much for the generous tip and kind words. I'll have to try chilling them and see how they come.

ellie-Whatever works, right? ;)

ames-Yeah, I will definitely try chilling the batter to see how they come out. Thanks!

superawesome-How super awesome is that? ;)

patricia-My fingers are crossed for you. :)

gattina-You don't need any baking tips, my friend. :)

cakespy-I've never heard of "ears" before. That's too cute.

louise-Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope to see you again! Once you get to know me, you'll see I'm often facetious. I didn't really contact YC; it's just my sense of humor. Sometimes it works, sometimes not? ;)

shn-Well now you've made me smile.

lisa-It adds such moistness to baked goods. I use it in many recipes to much success. I hope you try it.

I WILL BUY THAT YANKEE CANDLE. For sure.Even though they're crazy expensive.

The muffins look wonderful. I've heard that overstirring your batter will make them flat, and understirring will make them domed. I don't know if that's true or not. I think it really depends on how much you fill up the cup. Will have to experiment!

You are right - sometimes there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to whether muffins rise or not... I am going to try the baking powder AND soda idea for now - although mine aren't too flat usually, they have never risen like these babies! What HAS been happening though is that the entire muffin top is breaking off when I remove them from the pan (cue much swearing). I suspect I'm leaving them to cool in the pan too long... Now I've ingested in paper muffin cups so hopefully that's another problem solved :)

You're absolutely right. Somehow, a muffin isn't quite one unless it has a dome!My muffins have always domed. I'm not sure what I've done right, I just usually follow the recipe. I think it helps if the batter is just folded in and not over mixed.I have been away from blogging and just saw your May event. Really appreciate the theme.

Okay, first of all, I am obsessed with muffins (as I think is clear from my blog, haha), and these look FANTASTIC! I agree with your tip about the spatula vs. electric mixer. I'll use the mixer for part of the process, but for folding in dry ingredients, I find a spatula is the only way to go to prevent over mixing. Yum!

thanks for the muffin tips! My experience with muffins is very inconsistent. Sometimes they're beauties, sometimes they're rubbery ugglies. Go figure. I found your blog by a serious of clickthroughs that I can't remember, but I enjoy your writing style & recipes.

If even you had difficulties with baking muffins, I must be lucky to get success on muffins since the first bake then lol

I only use baking powder, and use a whisk to stir the batter by hand. You know... mix drys, and wets, and then stir them together. But just until the dry ingredients get moistened. I almost fill the cups to the top. And I bake them at about 375 F too.

For a long time I have taken that as a fact, simply. But why is it so? Well, a clever lady in the blogspehere recently enlightened me. If the batter hold a certain amount of butter/fat (150 g and more) it's less good to combine it melted as the batter risk to divide. Makes sense, doesn't it?

However, and here is my point, I usually bake my muffins based on method #2 even though I just go for half a batch. They always rise in the most satisfying and delicious way. As if the butter (always, never margarine or other trans-fatty acids) retains its power by going in unrefined.

Hi- I see I'm coming really late to this conversation, but I, too, have known the frustration of years of flat-topped muffins. Two things have made all the difference for me. First: knowing about the protein level of different brands of flour.Cook's Illlustrated addresses this in it's basic information about baking in it's Baking Illustrated cook book.Shirley Corriher and Harold McGee both have books that explain kitchen chemistry in an approachable way. McGee's 1st book does it better than the later one for me.(Libraries are often very responsive to patron requests for new book acquisitions.) King Arthur flour has the highest protein content of any commercial all-purpose flour I know. All my baked goods rise much better with it. They have on-line shopping if you can't get it locally. The second significant help for my muffin results is to pre-heat the oven 25 degrees higher, but immediately turn it to the written temp when the pan is put in. There's something about that extra heat at the beginning that helps. I hope this will be useful to somebody!

Hi- I see I'm coming really late to this conversation, but I, too, have known the frustration of years of flat-topped muffins. Two things have made all the difference for me. First: knowing about the protein level of different brands of flour.Cook's Illlustrated addresses this in it's basic information about baking in it's Baking Illustrated cook book.Shirley Corriher and Harold McGee both have books that explain kitchen chemistry in an approachable way. McGee's 1st book does it better than the later one for me.(Libraries are often very responsive to patron requests for new book acquisitions.) King Arthur flour has the highest protein content of any commercial all-purpose flour I know. All my baked goods rise much better with it. They have on-line shopping if you can't get it locally. The second significant help for my muffin results is to pre-heat the oven 25 degrees higher, but immediately turn it to the written temp when the pan is put in. There's something about that extra heat at the beginning that helps. I hope this will be useful to somebody!

marely-Thank you so much for that incredibly helpful comment! I didn't realize that KA flour made that much of a difference. I'm going to buy it next time. And thanks for the tip about the oven temp. That's an easy one to try too!

Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one who has been frustrated by flat muffins! I found your blog after yet another attempt at chocolate muffins came out flat-flat-flat! My fruit muffins all come out fine, it just seems to be the chocolate ones. I've tried stiffer dough, using both baking powder and baking soda, a higher oven temp, etc. I haven't tried chilling the dough yet though, that's a new one to me. Really happy to see I'm in good company though, and not the only crazy holding my breath to see if my muffins rise!

I came across this page when searching for why my apple-cinnamon muffins were flat-topped.I thought this recipe looked good so I made it, using the tip about chilling the batter.The muffins looked fantastic when they came out - nice big rounded tops. However after a few minutes cooling, most of them developed a big sinkhole in the middle, which had uncooked mixture in it. Perhaps it is necessary to turn down the temperature and cook for a little longer if the mixture is chilled?As for the actual recipe the muffins tasted good, but the almond flavour was a bit weird, perhaps because I used immitation essence? I don't know that I'll make it again.

John-Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm sorry that happened. Sometimes oven temperatures vary which could affect the cooking process, as could overfilling the tins. I'm not exactly sure what happened to you, but it really does work for me. Good luck!